Mission U Leaders Guidelines: 2017
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LEADER’S GUIDE
MISSION u 2017 WORSHIPS AND PLENARIES
Preparation for All Plenaries: The following participants and equipment should be arranged ahead of time: • 1 or 2 leaders who can communicate and facilitate exercises, responsive readings, and activities in a large group setting. • 1 or 2 volunteers to roam with a microphone during sharing times so that all can hear what is said. # of mic runners depends on room set and size. • Large screen, projector, and sound equipment to show PowerPoint presentations and/or videos. • Hand-held microphones. • Sign-language interpreter, large print, and other access needs as required. Plenaries should be accessible to people with different abilities, including people with sight, hearing, and mobility challenges.
Worship Center Ideas: • A mat, runner, blanket, or quilt from a Native American, Alaskan, or Appalachian community, or cloths from all three regions. • Various desert plants, like cacti or succulents. 7 to 11 in clay pots or decorative pots of varying sizes. • Bowl or basket of fall/winter squash and dried corn. If cannot find due to time of year, get summer squash or fruit. • Large decorative vase or bowl of water, stones and/or pebbles. • Candles of various sizes (may have to be battery-operated in some settings). • Table that is large or long enough so that participants can place their artifacts on it after the end of the ice-breaker activity. Two (2) classroom tables with linens, pushed end-to-end work best for this.
DAY ONE
Space Arrangements: • Chairs are shaped in a semi-circle facing the stage and screen(s). (1 center aisle, 2 side aisles at a minimum.) • Make sure the space between the stage and first row of chairs is large enough for multiple speakers (for Plenary II). • Stage and screen(s) are front and center. • Leader: onstage. For Opening Worship, second leader was on the floor. • Song Leader. • Event Leader. • Volunteers to run mics, collect cards, and usher. Four (4) to Six (6) Ushers work best. Ushers will help place attendees in their seats, pick up cards for “Thin Places” activity. • 1 Candle Bearer. • 1 microphone on-stage. • 2-3 handheld microphones for participant sharing. • 1 Index card and 1 pen on each seat (for Thin Place exercise). • Some additional cards with the ushers in case people do not bring an artifact. This is more than planned; at least ½ of all attendees do not have an artifact with them.
Artifact: Participants are asked in advance to bring with them an artifact that represents their sense of family or community. They will be reminded during registration. They are notified in advance to bring an artifact that fits in the palm of the hand. The artifact will add to the worship space, so it is something that they are willing to part with—no antique family heirlooms. It needs to travel well. Not perishable or too fragile.
Examples: Piece of cloth; leaf; pine cones; drift wood; stone from your nearby stream, lake, or beach; some token of memory; a small object, or even a favorite quote. Those who did not bring an artifact can draw an object that represents their sense of community.
DAY ONE MORNING
Gathering Song (10 minutes) and Artifact Icebreaker (15 minutes)
About 7 minutes into music, Song Leader invites people to take their artifacts; or, if they have not brought an artifact and don’t have one drawn on a card, to take a card and draw an object that represents their sense of community.
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Artifact Icebreaker
SONG LEADER: This icebreaker is a short get-to-know-you exercise. With your artifact, I invite you to find someone you have not yet met, introduce yourself, and describe your artifact and how it represents your sense of community. If space allows, have attendees walk around the room to people they may not necessarily know.
After about 10 minutes, Song Leader transitions everyone back to seats, with Gathering Song that speaks to how good it is to be together. For example, “Jesus in Me Sees Jesus in You” or “It Is Good to Be Alive.”
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Welcome, Announcements, Opening Remarks (15 minutes)
LEADER: Welcome to Mission u 2017…
Native American Welcome into the Land <
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(Optional: A dimming of the lights after the song, as the Opening Litany is being read and the Christ candle is brought in.) Lights are dimmed as soon as above Hymn begins and Candle Bearer starts walking (happens simultaneously).
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(Adapted from “Act of Repentance Liturgy” by Rachel Ann Morse and John 1, NRSV.)
LEADER 1: In the beginning before the making Of light Of order There was darkness And chaos And water Elements of elements Drawn together Pulled apart By the breath of God’s Word (original: “word”) A Spirit, like A soaring albatross An Alpha and A start A finish A rest. (Rachel Ann Morse, unpublished. Used with permission.)
LEADER 2: All things came into being through him, and without him not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it. (John 1, NRSV, adapted.)
Lights can be turned back on.
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HYMN: “How Great Thou Art” (refrain; a capella)
LEADER 1: When we sing about God’s greatness, can we help but imagine the large expanse of the universe? Galaxies. Stars. Blazing particles of gas. Elements orbiting and exploding. So much mystery.
How are we to understand the infinity of God? God, who is Alpha and Omega, first and the last. God, who is from everlasting to everlasting.
When we stand before the open expanse of the skies. When we hear the first cry of a newborn. When we look deeply into the eyes of someone we love.
We catch a glimpse of this mystery, what mystics call … transcendence. The Celts call this the “thin places.”
A contemporary poet and pastor, Sharlande Sledge, speaks of these places…
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LEADER 2: Both seen and unseen, Where the door between the world And the next is cracked open for a moment And the light is not all on the other side. God-shaped space. Holy. (Sharlande Sledge, unpublished. Used with permission.)
LEADER 1: I invite you to think of a time when you experienced these thin, holy places. Perhaps you were you at a lake, or close to the ocean or in an open field? Perhaps it came as you embraced someone you love? Can you recall a moment in your life, when time stood still and the veil between heaven and earth disappeared?
(Short pause.)
If it helps, close your eyes and go to that place. What do you see? What do you feel? What do you hear? What scents do you recall? (About a 30-second pause.) If possible, music can be played under the Leader’s voice.
Now, come back to this moment, to this place. Find the small card and marker that was provided to you and write just one phrase describing that experience.
Here’s an example: “Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, stunned by a magenta and orange-swirled sunset.”
Describe your “thin, holy place” in a short sentence that captures some of its essence.
(30-second pause.)
I would love to hear some of your responses. Please raise your hand and we will come to you with a microphone.
After a few shares, I will say: “God saw everything God had made. And said…” to which you will respond:
“Wow! It is very good.”
Can we try it one time together?
This call and response section can be repeated every few shares until sharing has completed.
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LEADER 1: God saw everything God had made. And said…
ALL: “Wow! It is very good!” Share-Out (5 minutes)
(While people share, Leader captures sensory words to fill in some of the blanks below.)
LEADER 1: What a wonderful array of experiences! I am struck by how connected these experiences are. Someone may find their thin place at the shore of a lake, which flows into a river. And that river empties itself into the ocean. We are part of a sacred ecosystem. My thin, holy place can be traced to your holy place. Have you wondered that perhaps this sacred ecosystem reflects the way God exists in relationship? God as Creator empties Godself into Christ. Christ empties into the Spirit. And Spirit captures the love of the Creator and Christ. The Three are One and exist as One in Three.
Author and founder of the Center for Action and Contemplation, Richard Rohr, makes this connection, that the pattern of the entire universe bears the Trinitarian image of God. All of it is relational, he says. “It is the mystery of relationship.” (From The Pattern of Trinity, a short film by The Work of the People.)
SONG LEADER: The ushers will pass around a basket where you can place your “thin place” descriptions, so that we can refer to them at a later time. Remember to save these as 10 or 12 will be used in Plenary 3; also, the remaining cards can be placed on the altar (as well).
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Preparation: The first plenary anchors our understanding of covenant as God’s desire and promise to be in a loving relationship with humanity, and also the covenantal community, a journey towards right and just relationships with one another. The plenary also shines a light on God’s grace and plan for our return to covenantal community when covenant is broken.
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PLENARY I: COVENANTAL COMMUNITY
LEADER: As we engage the studies on Covenant, Missionary Conferences, and Climate Justice, we will discover a single thread that runs through all of them. That thread is relationships. Suggestion to put the word RELATIONSHIPS on a PPT to help drive the message home.
As we examine the studies, the studies in turn will examine us. They will ask questions of us:
Are we living in right relationship with God?
(Pause.)
Are we living in right relationship with our neighbor, especially the least of these among us?
(Pause.)
Are we living in right relationship with Creation?
(Pause.)
And how far are we willing to go until all Creation is able to join us in this song of praise?
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SONG: “How Great Thou Art” (reprise)
LEADER: How great Thou art! The Triune, relational God, created a world with relationships as its basic pattern. The Bible shows that God is a covenant-making God. To make a covenant (like a marriage covenant) is to enter into a relationship, to be bonded in mutual commitment.
Divine covenant reveals God’s desire for a relationship with humanity. In our Leader’s guide, elmira Nazombe quotes Maharat Rori Picker Neiss, who suggests that being in covenant with God is almost an irrational concept, because divine covenant is not a relationship between equals. Neiss says,
LEADER: “On the most basic level we see it [covenant] as being the relationship, a relationship that involves a requirement from both parties.… But the crucial difference when we start talking about a religious covenant, we recognize it as something of an absurd statement to say that we can be in covenant with God... there is no way that there can be equity in this covenant... So within the covenant there is a sudden sense of generosity. The covenant is not some kind of business deal. It is really an act of graciousness on the part of God in the exchange.” (Living as a Covenant Community—Leader’s Guide, p. 45.)
Yes, divine covenant is made possible through God’s abounding grace. In initiating relationships with us, God risks our rejection and unfaithfulness. Our study author, Evy McDonald, writes,
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“God cares enough about human beings and the earth to enter into a sacred relationship and establish a divine covenant, not just once but time and time again.” (Living as a Covenant Community, Introduction.)
LEADER: From Adam and Eve, Abraham and Sarah, Moses and Miriam; to the judges, kings, and prophets; from the Gospels to the Epistles and the early church, we see in the scriptures a God who pursues relationships and refuses to give up, even when we turn aside and walk away.
(Pause.)
Our study frames God’s covenant activity in three ways:
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• God as the covenant maker, who initiates out of love a relationship with humanity; • God as the covenant keeper, who never turns away from the covenant people, no matter how often they stray from faithfulness; • God as the covenant equipper, who provides the guidance that the covenant community needs in order to live as God’s people […] (Living as a Covenant Community—Participant’s Guide, Introduction, p. 155.)
(Pause.)
Sisters and brothers, we are in covenant with a gracious and loving God. Our lives are lived in response to God’s relentless love and grace. As our study indicates: “Our covenant agreement with God can be summarized as learning to love God with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind, and all of our strength.” (Living as a Covenant Community, p. 6.)
And to love our neighbor as we do ourselves.
Our covenant with God and with our neighbor is about how we abide in love... Love that came to dwell with us.
(Leader or Song Leader starts softly singing “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (to the tune of “Hyfrydol”) a cappella and invites all to join in singing.)
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SONG: “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling” (Sung to the tune in United Methodist Hymnal, #196)
LEADER: Abiding in divine love—in the love and compassion of Jesus—is our daily joy and our daily work.
But... what happens when our love fails? What happens when we choose lesser loves or lesser gods? What happens when covenant is broken?
(Pause.)
The prophet Jeremiah shows us the pathway of grace. In Jeremiah 31, God acknowledges broken covenant and initiates a plan for our return. Would you join me in reading Jeremiah verses 31- 34? We can alternate verses.
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LEADER: “Behold, the days are coming,” says Yahweh,* “when I will establish a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah.”
ALL: “It will not be like the covenant I made with their ancestors when I took them by the hand to bring them up out of the land of Egypt—a covenant they broke, though I was their spouse,” says Yahweh.
LEADER: “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my Law in their minds and on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.” ALL: “No longer will they need to teach one another or remind one another to listen to Yahweh. All of them, high and low alike, will listen to me,” says Yahweh, “for I will forgive their misdeeds and will remember their sins no more.” (Jeremiah 31:31-34, The Inclusive Bible.)
*Yahweh is substituted for YHWH in order to make it readable.
LEADER: Thank you.
There was a fracture in Israel’s relationship with God. In this text, we do not see a punitive God punishing Israel for its sins. Instead, God is portrayed as an injured lover, hurt and betrayed. If we were to paraphrase verse 32, it might sound more like this:
(Soften the voice a bit.)
“Israel, my beloved, I took you by the hand and walked you out of Egypt. And yet, you walked away from me.”
(Continue in a softened, tender voice.)
LEADER: We break covenant when we hurt, harm, betray, reject and walk away from one with whom we are in covenant.
As shown here in God’s voicing the pain of broken covenant, our journey back to a relationship with God and with others begins with acknowledging the pain and hurt of broken covenants: Are there any fractures? (Pause.) What has caused pain? (Pause.) Who have we hurt or rejected? (Pause.) What confessions do we need to make? (Pause.)
(One-minute silence with music underscore.)
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SONG: “Bring Your Best to Our Worst” (Singing Our Prayer, #4)
LEADER: The good news is that God does not stop at simply acknowledging the hurt and the pain. As covenant-equipper, God promises for a new way to restore and keep covenant.
We see in verse 33 that God offers a new way forward: “But this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: “I will put my Law in their minds and on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”
God’s new way of right and just relationships will be scripted in our minds and hearts. Covenant will no longer be limited to words on tablets, scrolls, or pages in a book. Covenant will be a part of who we are because God’s Law will be in our hearts and minds.
God makes a way for us to return and is always in the business of making new ways.
We can affirm that God’s determined and persistent grace is what helps us keep covenant.
And when we break covenant, God does not give up but invites us to return, time and time again.
The first step in this return is to acknowledge the pain, hurt, and harm we have experienced and also caused, in order to seek forgiveness and reconciliation.
Such a step requires courage and humility to hear truth, speak truth and accept God’s grace that undergirds everything.
The journey toward covenantal community is not easy. The path is long and arduous, but we are sustained in it by the example of a relentless and gracious God who refuses to give up on us and teaches us to not give up on each other.
Will you rise in body or spirit to join me in this Closing Litany?
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CLOSING LITANY
LEADER: Out of God’s abounding grace and abiding love, our covenanting God initiates relationship with us.
ALL: God is Holy Love.
LEADER: When we covenant with God, we enter into a relationship of love with God.
ALL: Our relationship with God is holy.
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ALL: Our relationships with each other are holy.
LEADER: When we covenant with God, we also commit to the care of Creation.
ALL: Our relationship with Creation is holy.
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LEADER: But the scriptures show that we fall short time and time again.
ALL: But God remains faithful.
LEADER: When we forget the ways God has led us out of captivity,
ALL: God doesn’t give up on us. <
LEADER: When we forget to trust God and seek after lesser gods,
ALL: God doesn’t give up on us.
LEADER: When we forget about the manna God provides in small and large ways,
ALL: God doesn’t give up on us.
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LEADER: When we forget the sacredness of our neighbor,
ALL: God doesn’t give up on us. LEADER: When we forget the sacredness of the stranger,
ALL: God doesn’t give up on us.
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LEADER: When we forget the sacredness of the Earth,
ALL: God doesn’t give up on us.
LEADER: If God doesn’t give up on us, then it means,
ALL: We don’t give up on each other. We don’t give up on the world.
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Closing Praise: “Hamba Nathi (The Journey is Long)” [Lead Me, Guide Me (2nd ed.), #542] DAY TWO
Preparation: The intention of the plenary on missionary conferences is for those gathered to listen deeply to three personal stories of struggle and resilience from Native American, Alaskan and Appalachian communities. In doing so, the invitation is to recognize the pain of broken covenant and allow our hearts to be unsettled enough to transform our confession into committed action.
The following participants and equipment should be arranged ahead of time: • 3 Storytellers who can deliver powerful readings. • 1 Worship Leader. • 1 Percussionist, drummer, or volunteer able to drum rhythmically on a hand drum or djembe. • 3 microphones. • 3 chairs, in addition to the participants’ chairs. • Wide red industrial tape. 2 to 3 Mic Runners with HHW Mics. Ushers to help guide Attendees to their seats.
Space arrangements: • Chairs are shaped in a semi-circle facing stage and screen(s). Leave more space in front of room between chairs and altar; so there is space for the red cross (made via tape). • Make sure the first row of chairs provide just enough space on the floor for four speakers to both sit and stand. • Stage and screen(s) are front and center. • On the floor, between the stage and first row of chairs, a large cross is outlined with red masking tape. Make sure it is large and visible. The cross should be outlined in red tape; and no wider than 2 feet throughout. This way, when the Attendees place their cards inside of the cross, they will fill the space. • Part of cross extends through middle aisle. • Place three chairs and three mics at the inner corners of the cross. • The position of the storytellers is at the level of the audience, not on stage. DAY TWO MORNING
Gathering Song/Announcements (25 minutes) and Worship in Song (10 minutes)
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PLENARY II: MISSIONARY CONFERENCES (60 minutes)
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OPENING HYMN: “Heleluyan, We are Singing” (Singing the Sacred: Sing, Prayer, Praise, #13 or United Methodist Hymnal, #78)
Introduction: Video Montage
Live or recorded drumming to a video montage of sounds, video clips, and images taken from study, including Alaskan native pastors, communities, Oklahoma trail of tears, maps, Native American reservations, orphanages, schools, Appalachian people, mountain top removal, and deindustrialization.
Purpose of Video Montage: To show the complex, layered reality of history. As the montage is being shown, there is low drumming playing in medium-tempo half notes. After the montage ends, the drumming continues for a few more beats and then the Worship Leader begins.
WORSHIP LEADER: The Heleluyan that rises from Missionary Conferences is not an easy one. It is not Pollyanna. It is not taken for granted. It is a deep, profound expression of trust in the faithfulness of God in the midst of a very difficult journey.
STORYTELLER 1: Stands to Read. From the history of treaties made and broken; forced migration; the acquisition of ancestral homelands; massacres; and more recently, the struggle to protect water, the journey of Native American persons in and outside of the Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference is not and has not been easy. Nonetheless, their Heleluyan rises.
STORYTELLER 2: Stands to Read. From the mountains of Appalachia hollowed by strip mining and mountaintop removal, the decline of coal industries, the loss of jobs, and persistent poverty, the journey of the Appalachian peoples in Red Bird is not and has not been easy. Nonetheless, their Heleluyan rises. STORYTELLER 3: Stands to Read. From the loss of culture and language the loss of indigenous lands, the impact of climate change, thinning ice, melting permafrost, and a people excluded from mainstream society, the journey of Alaska Natives is not and has not been easy. Nonetheless, their Heleluyan rises.
WORSHIP LEADER: We gather to bear witness to the faithfulness and resiliency of brothers and sisters in missionary conference areas, to be in solidarity and learn how to further solidarity with them.
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Movement #1: Voices (30 minutes)
Three Storytellers and the Worship Leader are at the level of the participants. The one who shares Cobell’s story remains standing.
After each story is spoken, a drum beat is heard.
All storytellers rise and the Proclamation is spoken as a litany.
(“ALL” means the whole assembly.)
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It is a meaningful experience if the storytellers can do additional research on their characters. Also, if they would like to dress in their style, that helps, as well.
Mic when with WLAV or WLAP mics so their hands are free to move around; do not let them use a podium or music stand (to help foster movement and active reading).
The Story of Blackfeet Warrior, by Elouise Cobell
STORYTELLER 1: Let’s hear the story of the Blackfeet Warrior, Elouise Cobell. Born in 1945, Elouise Cobell—also known to her people as Yellow Bird Woman—fought against the biggest institution in the world—the United States of America. (Pause.) Imagine Montana in the winter. Deep snow. Dangerous frigid temperatures. Impassable roads and rural areas. This is where Elouise Cobell and members of the Blackfeet Indian Reservation lived. Surrounded by the beauty of nature, the life of these American Indians [Native Americans] revealed a sin of society that most of the U.S. chose to ignore. The structures that people called “home” had leaky roofs and no electricity or indoor plumbing. Unemployment soared. And education for children was insufferable. On that same Blackfeet land, non-Indian [non-Native American] ranchers raised thousands of cattle; farmers covered acres with alfalfa. Oil companies drilled millions of gallons of oil; logging companies cleared countless forests. Generations of non-Indian [Native American] tenants got rich off the land. They built nice homes, drove new cars, and sent their children to good schools, while generations of Blackfeet landlords lived in squalor. It didn’t take an expert to see the economic gaps. (Pause.) Beginning with her childhood, Elouise Cobell could see these great social and economic discrepancies. She heard stories of how over 500 Blackfeet Indians were buried in a mass grave in the hills of Ghost Ridge. These were the ones who died of starvation one harsh winter when the promised government rations did not come. It is these stories of the dead that drove her. It is “[f]ighting for them,” she says, “Fighting the same government that tried to get rid of this entire race of people.”1 Graduating from Montana State University as an accountant, she committed herself to investigating the role of the government in leasing land to non-Indians [non-Native Americans] and where that money went. It obviously wasn’t going to her people. Revenue generated from these lands were supposed to be part of the Blackfeet Nation’s trust money. Where was the money? (Dramatic pause.) History was repeating itself. The year is 1887. Congress passes the Dawes Act, also called the General Allotment Act. Land is removed from tribal control, divided into plots and given to individual Native Americans. The government then assumes the authority to issue leases on the land to oil, timber, cattle grazing and agricultural development. Revenue generated from those leases is supposed to be paid to individual Indian landowners. Instead, what Cobell found was a history of mismanagement and diversion of funds to other programs. (Dramatically): “It was the Indians’ money… but one administration after another treated it as slush funds.”2 For 118 years, Indians [Native Americans] across the U.S. experienced the same thing as the Blackfeet members. The time to organize for a half million Indians was now. In 1996, Elouise Cobell filed the largest class-action suit ever on behalf of Native Americans across the United States. She declared… (Dramatically, like speaking to a large audience): The government has been “grossly negligent in its 118 years of managing the Individual Indian Trust!” (Pause.) One hundred seventy-six billion dollars negligent! The class action suit became a long battle for justice. It continued through… (Slowly…) Three presidencies. (Pause.) Fifteen years of litigation. (Pause.) Ten appeals. (Pause.) Seven trials. (Pause.) Elouise Cobell and her peers refused to back down. Many lost their lives during that time. Finally, after thirteen years, Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar agreed to settle the case in 2009. In 2010, President Obama signed the Claims Resolution Act with a $3.4 billion settlement for Native landowners. It was the largest settlement in the history of the United States. A far cry from the $176 billion of the initial claim, Cobell and her team agreed. They needed to end the suffering. Tribal elders had died in poverty and never saw a penny. Now was the time to move forward. The Claims Resolution Act is one step toward justice. Blackfeet landowners and Native Americans across the country could begin to invest in future generations. At Cobell’s request, the government gave $60 million to create the Indian Education Scholarship Fund for Indians to attend college and vocational schools. Elouise Cobell died the following year. (Pause.) Her legacy lives.
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The Native American struggle for dignity and accountability is part of a long litany of treaties made and broken by the U.S. government. A few examples: 1851. The Treaty of Fort Laramie marks the boundary lines and land rights of the Sioux and several other Indian nations. 1862. The Homestead Act opens up land west of the Mississippi, land previously promised to relocated Native Americans. 1868. The U.S. government signs the second Fort Laramie treaty, guaranteeing Native American ownership of the Black Hills. 1874. Gold is discovered in the Black Hills of Montana; onslaught of settlers with gold rush fever trespass Sioux land. 2017. Standing Rock, a fast-tracked multi-billion dollar pipeline going through Indian land, threatens the water supply and violates sacred Sioux sites. “This is the third time that the Sioux Nation’s lands and resources have been taken without regard for tribal interests… Whether it’s gold from the Black Hills or hydropower from Missouri or oil pipelines that threaten our ancestral inheritance, the tribes have always paid the price for America’s prosperity.”3 David Archambault II, chairman of the Standing Rock Sioux.
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(Drum beat. All Storytellers and Worship Leader rise for the Proclamation.)
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Proclamation worship LEADER: In the midst of these journeys, ALL: We belong in covenant together; these stories are part of our story. storyteller 1: Our sisters and brothers are afflicted in every way,
ALL: But they are not crushed.
STORYTELLER 2: They may be at times perplexed,
ALL: But they are not driven to despair.
STORYTELLER 3: They have been persecuted,
ALL: But they are not forsaken. worship LEADER: They are struck down,
ALL: But not destroyed.
(Storytellers take a seat. Appalachian story reader remains standing.)
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The Story of Eula Hall and the Mud Creek Clinic, Appalachia
STORYTELLER 2: Listen to the story of Eula Hall in her own words. “I’ll tell you, to get to where I am today has not been easy. I was born an Appalachian child in poverty. I was reared in poverty, deprived of an education. But you know, I held onto one dream. I wanted to be somebody. I wanted to do things for other people, and I wanted to change lives for people in the same position I was in. So I met and married this big handsome prince. I thought, ‘this will solve my problem.’ Well, you know what you see ain’t always what is. What I got was a wolf in lamb’s clothes. First thing after my marriage, I became pregnant with my first child. My husband was very threatening, very abusive. And here I was, stuck. When you see women in horrible situations like this, you ask, ‘Why does she stay? Why doesn’t she leave?’ I’ve been there. I know why you stay. I know why you don’t leave. You can’t leave. You have nowhere to go. So here I was, pregnant, having a child, but the abuse was still going on. But I never gave up. I had one dream. Someday I would be free and I’d be somebody. And I’d help other people do the same. That kept me going. I raised four children with this man before I saw an opportunity to break away. During the War on Poverty in the 1960s, there were Appalachian Volunteers and the VISTA workers. I signed up as a VISTA volunteer [and later switched] to being an Appalachian Volunteer. That gave me a vehicle and fifty dollars a week. Well, that wasn’t enough money to pay rent and leave, but it was enough money to make plans. “During this time, we Appalachian Volunteers were working on problems of all people in Appalachia: roads and schools and school lunches and health care and education… I’d seen so much suffering from the lack of health care. [When we did the health screenings] we found out that most had no family physician and that they had severe medical problems: hypertension, strokes, black lung disease, too many heart problems. They had nothing, nowhere to go, no money, no medical insurance. It would really haunt you at night to see a mother with five or six children suffer and die from a nail puncture and tetanus when one shot could have saved this woman and those babies… I’d think, if the government’s going to spend money on anything worthwhile, why can’t they spend it on health care? But the really big money for such problems just ended up in the politicians’ hands and pockets. So I took the fourteen hundred dollars left from the Appalachian Volunteer bank account and the volunteers and started the Mud Creek clinic. I said, ‘well, if we can’t get federal money to do it, we’ll do it ourselves. We’ll take care of everybody…’ People tell me today they never thought that there would be a clinic in Mud Creek. You see, you just don’t know. You really don’t know how far you can go or how much you can do until you try. I moved the clinic into my house. I thought, ‘[but] the first thing I have to do, I’ve got to get rid of my old man.’ You all might think this is awful, but I did it… I set him up with some drinking buddies in order to get him to sign the papers. That’s how I got my divorce. I kept the clinic in my house until 1982, when the clinic burned to the ground. The patients asked, ‘What are we going to do? We’ll die without the medicine and we’ll die without the care.’ So I talked to the staff and said, ‘Let’s not give up. If we give up, we’ll never be able to come back again. It was hard to get started. And it will be even harder now to get it back if we give up.’ We got hold of an old, used double-wide trailer and [moved the clinic in there] and I started fund-raising. I got in touch with the Appalachian Commission and they indicated that we could get funded to build a primary care center if we had the local matching funds. We had to raise eighty thousand dollars in ninety days. Even my family said it was impossible. They said, ‘You’ll never do it, raise eighty thousand dollars in a poverty area like this.’ And I said, ‘Well, I’ll have to try. You never know how far you can go, you don’t know what you can do, until you try.’ So I started fund-raising, and the news media was my biggest source of help. Local people really came through. At the end of the ninety days I had about $102,000 more than even I had bargained for. The clinic shows what you can do if you just try and you’ve got the will-power. But as far as having the education, I didn’t have it. Sometimes I think, is it common sense or am I just crazy to take the chances I’ve taken and the things I’ve done? Like trying to stop the strip mining. A lot of times it was just women. Those strip miners […] They’d get the police, but we’d get into areas the police couldn’t get to […] and stopped the strip mining on Mud Creek. It was the women who did it. But to organize the women, to get them together, to get them to do anything, you have to get them away from their husbands. I’d go out and I’d try to talk to women about problems we had, and they were interested. But if their husbands were there at home, they were different. They don’t talk much. [And the husband] would be the one to tell you what she could or could not do. I got away from that, but the price I paid for my freedom and the price I paid to be here today was high. My husband was one of the most violent people that you could ever meet. I don’t know how I survived a few times… I’ve had several fractures, I’ve been stabbed, and I’ve been shot. And I praise God that I’m here. But I can still see why there aren’t many women in Appalachia in the same abusive situation who manage to get out. They really can’t. They’re destroyed physically by men. Truly, my suffering and my witness to the suffering and other bad things happening in our area made me what I am. I had one dream and one hope, and I followed it and it came true. I could get away and I could get myself free and I could help other people.
(Pause.)
(Slowly): Things just don’t happen, especially for women. You have to make them happen.”5
(Drum beat. All Storytellers and Worship Leader rise for the Proclamation.)
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Proclamation
WORSHIP LEADER: In the midst of these journeys,
ALL: We belong in covenant together; these stories are part of our story.
STORYTELLER 1: Our sisters and brothers are afflicted in every way;
ALL: But they are not crushed.
STORYTELLER 2: They may be at times perplexed;
ALL: But they are not driven to despair. STORYTELLER 3: They have been persecuted;
ALL: But they are not forsaken.
WORSHIP LEADER: They are struck down;
ALL: But not destroyed.
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The Story of Alaska Native Pastor, Charlie Brower
STORYTELLER 3: Hear now the story of Charlie Brower, an Alaska Native Pastor serving in Nome, Alaska’s Community United Methodist Church....
I was once known as 74, not Charles Brower, not Asiaqnataq (my Inupiaq name), not even “Hey You.”
I was sent to Wrangell Institute in Wrangell, Alaska about a thousand miles from my home in Utqiagvik (formerly Barrow, Alaska) as a ten-year-old to finish my primary education. All my clothes and everything I owned were marked with 74.
I was assigned a bunk in a room of eight children from several communities throughout Alaska. Kids similar in age, all of us away from homes of caring families, and most of all away from the cultures that cared and taught us to survive. S L O W L Y My mother died while I was still adjusting to the Wrangell Institute; I could not go home for her funeral.
Then came Mount Edgecumbe High School in Sitka, Alaska. Over four years, I made many friends from many cultures and communities throughout Alaska. Yes, I learned my social studies, mathematics, proper English, world history, and an introduction to trades — but would those studies help me to survive in the Arctic once I returned home? The skills and knowledge I acquired helped me to live in the world of the dominant culture—not in the traditional hunter and gatherer world of the Inupiaq.
I graduated from high school in May of 1963. Then in August of that year I was plucked from a hunting trip somewhere out in the tundra, quickly bathed, and was on an airplane to Los Angeles, California. I remember being mesmerized by the endless lights as we approached Los Angeles. Nothing prepared me for the immensity of the city!
I was to learn an electronic technician trade so I could help maintain early warning systems spread across the arctic—or so the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs had planned for me. The RCA technician school at Sixth and Main in Los Angeles closed and we were moved to New York City and live in tenement apartments in Newark, New Jersey.
My culture (Inupiaq of northern Alaska) is primarily a hunter/gatherer tradition. Our food comes from the ocean, rivers, and the tundra surrounding our village. To become a successful contributor to our society, one must learn how nature impacts not only our weather, but also how the animals and plants we eat, live and develop alongside our communities.
PAUSE Safely hunting, traveling, and LIVING IN A HARSH CLIMATE requires learning how winds, ocean currents, and temperatures impact how we travel, live and learn. Hunting and gathering successfully requires TEAMWORK among family groups, partnership formed with friends, and being part of a traditional “crew.”
PAUSE If one grows up NOT KNOWING WHAT IS EXPECTED and WHAT COULD RESULT from not knowing, one’s options are very limited. Textbook and classroom learning DO NOT TEACH ice conditions, prevailing winds, ocean currents, or safe weather predicting and survival—all items needed in an intimate, innate sense if one is to survive arctic life. Without the training of the senses, how could one be considered as a hunting partner? Pause Many boarding school survivors struggle with fitting into the cultures they come from. S L O W L Y Some find ‘PEACE’ in a bottle.
Some find ‘GOODWILL’ in substance abuse with friends.
Some find ‘A LIFE’ attempting suicide.
All struggle with this ‘PEACE, GOODWILL, AND LIFE’ in attempts to fit in. To fit into a society they lived in, but culturally do not belong in. Or to fit into a culture they were born into but never learned.
Their daily struggles impact their family and children as well. Many survivors do not cope well. Their children do not know why their parents seek ‘peace, goodwill, and life’ in socially unacceptable ways.
Until we in churches, understand this group of survivors and their offspring, we CANNOT offer them meaningful ways of becoming disciples for the transformation of their world. Pause
Having experienced the cultural factions caused by boarding schools and relocation programs has helped me understand how some of MY peers could not deal positively with the destructive power of NOT belonging to the culture in which we were born.
Our loving God led me to this place — Nome, Alaska — to this ministry with many of Alaska’s native peoples. God’s presence is easily seen in this place, in the faces of the children and grandchildren of those suffering and not knowing their place in society.
By taking away so much of what we were born into, mainstream society rejects the very ones they once sought to forcefully ‘integrate.’
Despite such, God is still at work. Each day, I see God at work in this vast land drawing people together and renewing their lives. Joy and hope permeate my soul. Amen. (Drum beat. All Storytellers and Worship Leader rise for the Proclamation.) <
Proclamation
WORSHIP LEADER: In the midst of these journeys,
ALL: We belong in covenant together; these stories are part of our story.
STORYTELLER 1: Our sisters and brothers are afflicted in every way;
ALL: But they are not crushed.
STORYTELLER 2: They may be at times perplexed;
ALL: But they are not driven to despair.
STORYTELLER 3: They have been persecuted;
ALL: But they are not forsaken.
WORSHIP LEADER: They are struck down;
ALL: But not destroyed. We stand with them, learn from them, We walk alongside them and let them lead us.
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Movement #2: Echoes (15 minutes)
WORSHIP LEADER: Friends, what we have heard in this place is only a sample of the many, many more stories that surround us. These stories were selected to give us a sense of the larger narrative; a narrative of perseverance, courage, faith, and hope, in the midst of pain and struggle.
Let us now take time to honor these and the many other stories that are part of our common journey… to find our own place in them and to let the echoes of these stories lead us into prayer.
(Pause.)
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WORSHIP LEADER: Where did you hear the pain of broken covenant? Where did you hear resilience? Please take a few minutes to reflect on your own.
(Invite personal reflection for 2–3 minutes. Underscore with native flute music, if available.)
WORSHIP LEADER: Let’s hear God’s word to us through the Apostle Paul as he writes to the Philippian community:
“I thank my God every time I mention you in my prayers. I’m thankful for all of you every time I pray, and it’s always a prayer full of joy. I’m glad because of the way you have been my partners in the ministry of the gospel from the time you first believed it until now. I’m sure about this: the one who started a good work in [us] will stay with [us] to complete the job by the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:3-6, CEB)
(Invite public witnessing.)
WORSHIP LEADER: As we continue in prayer, I invite you now to briefly share what rose within you during this time as you reflected on the pain and resiliency found in the stories that you just heard. Mic runners to bring mics as Attendees stand/raise hands.
(After about 10 minutes of sharing, Worship Leader brings this moment to a close.)
WORSHIP LEADER: Thank you, all, for your receptivity and vulnerability in this time of sharing. Listen again to God’s promise:
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HYMN: “I Feel Like Traveling On,” words and music by William Hunter, an 19th century minister who served in Appalachia
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Movement #3: Blessings (5 minutes)
(We come to the close of this plenary with blessings. Worship Leader begins with the words of Rev. David Wilson, district superintendent of Oklahoma Indian Missionary Conference.)
WORSHIP LEADER: What we have learned and will continue to learn about the lives of the people of The Missionary Conferences is a viable reminder of our interconnectedness as people of God.
STORYTELLER 1: Stands to Read We share common needs.
STORYTELLER 2: Stands to Read We share common hopes.
STORYTELLER 3: Stands to Read We are each unique;
STORYTELLER 2: Stands to Read But bound together as the body of Christ.
WORSHIP LEADER: I invite you to stand and join with us in this closing litany:
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Closing Litany
ONE: Bound together in Christ, we journey on, Although the journey toward justice is long,
ALL: Let us not give up.
ONE: Though the journey toward freedom is risky,
ALL: Let us not give up.
ONE: Though the journey toward healing is intense,
ALL: Let us not give up! Let us not give up! Let us not give up! For God will make a way.
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REPRISE: “Hamba Nathi (The Journey is Long)” [Lead Me, Guide Me (2nd ed.), #542] DAY TWO EVENING
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WORSHIP/RITUAL SERVICE (60 MINUTES)
Preparation: This evening worship/ritual is intended to create a sacred space for participants to spiritually center, practice public confession, and commit to dismantling the walls that divide their communities.
The following participants and equipment should be arranged ahead of time: • Song Leader. Music can and should be underscored in many places throughout; even if not scripted. • Worship Leader. • Scripture Reader. From the floor if possible; if not, on stage. • 8–10 Ushers. • Different height candles added to altar and tea-lights placed along lines of cross. • 8.5 x 11 card stock, folded in half. • Enough black markers for all participants, placed on or underneath chairs. Need a Candle Bearer and Cross Bearer (and cross).
Space: • Chairs are shaped in a semi-circle facing stage and screen(s). • Stage and screen(s) are front and center. • On the floor and in the center, between the stage and first row of chairs, a large cross is outlined with red masking tape. Make sure it is large enough to be visible. • Part of cross extends through the middle aisle. • Within the cross, tea-lights are scattered. • Woodwind or recorder plays in background, as appropriate, at different points of this service.
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(A couple of gathering songs that speak to both the joy and pain of community; perhaps skip PPT if they are very familiar songs.)
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EVENING WORSHIP/RITUAL SERVICE
Gathering/Songs (10 minutes)
SONG LEADER: Please join me in a prayerful meditation. With both feet planted on the floor, back upright, and seated comfortably, turn your palms to the heavens and place them on your lap. With our hands and hearts open, let’s take a deep breath. It’s good to be together again; let’s take another deep breath together; that feels good; let’s take another breath. So much has happened, hasn’t it? Let’s relax now and let go… (etc.)
(Say something about the Prayer of Peace being based on a Navajo prayer.)
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Prayer of Peace (Gather Comprehensive, #720) All sing. (Based on a Navajo prayer.) Peace before us, peace behind us. Peace under our feet. Peace within us, peace over us, let all around us be peace.
Light before us… Cue for Candle Bearer and Cross Bearer to Start Walking…
(At this point, two people proceed in: one holding a large, tall cross that will be in the middle, and another with the Christ candle. They should enter from opposite directions and place their objects on a small round table at the center of the cross.)
Meditation WORSHIP LEADER: Be still and know that I am God.
(Silence.)
Be still and know that I am.
(Silence.)
Be still and know.
(Silence.)
Be still.
(Silence.)
Be.
(Silence.)
SUNG REFRAIN: Peace before us, peace behind us. Peace under our feet. Peace within us, peace over us, let all around us be peace.
WORSHIP LEADER: Our scripture lesson comes from the Epistle to the Ephesians. The Ephesians were experiencing deep ethnic conflicts between Jews and gentiles. When Paul speaks about the walls of hostility, it was not hypothetical, since there was real conflict in the community. Sound familiar? These days, fault lines can be found everywhere: theological, gender, race, class, political affiliations... So listen now to Paul’s word to the Ephesians and also to us.
SCRIPTURE READER: But God, rich in mercy and loving us so much, brought us to life in Christ, even when we were dead in our sins… And it is by grace that you have been saved, through faith—and even that is not of yourselves, but the gift of God. Nor is it a reward for anything that you have done so nobody can claim the credit. We are God’s work of art, created in Christ Jesus to do the good things God created us to do from the beginning.
But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For Christ is our peace, who made both groups into one and broke down the [wall]* of hostility that kept us apart. In his own flesh, Christ abolished the Law, with its commandments and ordinances, in order to make [one new humanity in place of the two],* thus establishing peace and reconciling us all to God in one body through the cross, which put to death the [hostility]* between us. (Ephesians 2:4–5, 8–10, 12–16, The Inclusive Bible) *“wall” used instead of “barrier” *“one new humanity in place of the two” used instead of “the two into one person” *“hostility” used instead of “enmity” for coordination with liturgy below.
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Litany
ONE: Friends, we were dead in our trespasses, but God, rich in mercy and full of love, made us alive in Christ.
ALL: Lead us to your cross, O Christ.
ONE: We were all once separated and alienated, strangers to God and to one another. We have now been brought near by the blood of Christ.
ALL: Lead us to your cross, O Christ.
ONE: At the cross are stories of pain, heartache and trauma. In these stories we bear witness to generations who have suffered the impacts of broken covenant.
ALL: Lead us to your cross, O Christ.
ONE: In our return to right relationship, we become a single body—the dwelling place in which the Spirit of God is putting an end to hostility and creating a new humanity on this earth.
ALL: Lead us to your cross, O Christ. <
SUNG REFRAIN: Christ before us, Christ behind us. Christ under our feet. Christ within us, Christ over us, let all around us be Christ.
WORSHIP LEADER: Our journey back to God and to each other begins when we recognize the ways we have hurt, harmed, and rejected God and one another. In other words, our journey towards covenantal community begins with confession.
As we move into this time, please note that here in this room, there are members of communities, maybe your own, who have been deeply hurt as a result of broken covenant. There are members of communities, maybe your own, who have also benefited from broken covenant and the suffering of others. We don’t all come to this time with the same experiences, nor will we respond in the same way. This may be a time of mourning and even anger for some of us. For others, it may be an invitation to have the courage to open our eyes, acknowledge the wrong, and begin to articulate ways to restore covenant. For all of us, this is a time of prayer. As I offer instructions, please feel free to respond in a way that is most helpful or appropriate for you.
In our journey towards covenantal community, we need to confess by first naming, and then taking responsibility for, walls of hostility that divide us. These dividing walls of hostility are, for the most part, inherited over centuries. Yet, we are responsible for sustaining them and keeping them alive and operational.
These walls divide us across barriers of race, ethnicity, social class, ability, theological understandings, educational status, sexual orientation, gender and gender expression, politics, and much more.
With the markers and tent cards provided, I invite you to name on one side of the cardboard tent one or two of the most insidious and disturbing walls you experience or see in your own community or in the community at large. Use only a few words and write them in big letters. When you are finished, as a sign of making public our confessions, please silently rise in body or in spirit so we may all witness and affirm what you have written.
(Read the question below.)
Let me repeat the question.
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In our journey towards covenantal community, what are the two or three of the most insidious walls you experience in your own community or in the community at large?
(Ask several people ahead of time to stand with their cards to start the process. Keep going until most people have stood and shared.) Have people stand up, one at a time, and publically announce their confession. No worries if voices overlap. Each person remains standing until ALL have stood.
WORSHIP LEADER: Thanks; you may be seated.
Each time we bear witness to the hurt and pain of broken community, each time we practice confession in community, and each time we renew our commitment to right and just relationships, we begin to dismantle the dividing walls of hostility.
INTERLUDE SONG: “Christ before us, Christ behind us…”
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WORSHIP LEADER: Our second step is taking response-ability. Response-ability is not about blame or shame. It is about being in partnership with God for the healing of the world. It is acknowledging that there is something that we can do about it and committing to doing it. Response- ability means that we are able to respond.
I invite you now to write on the other side of the cardboard tent the ways in which you are called to respond to address the walls of hostility that you named. Be realistic and concrete. It may be hard to know just what to do about something. Perhaps you can commit yourself to finding out how you can start dismantling these walls.
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SONG: “Christ Our Peace” (Singing Our Prayer, #5)
WORSHIP LEADER: Friends, I invite you now to stand in body and spirit and listen to what God says. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19, NRSV.)
Confident of this promise, I invite you in bold faith to renew your covenant with God and with one another by coming out of your chairs to place your card tent inside the cross. At the cross, we commit to bear witness to the pain of broken covenant. We commit to the ongoing practice of confession. And we commit to struggle for right and just relationships. Just as our confessions were made in the context of this Mission u community, so will our return to covenant. What communities do you bring with you in this journey towards covenantal community? As you place your card down, please name the community you are bringing with you. Multiple people will be sharing at the same time and it will sound like a cacophony of voices. As you return to your seats, allow the voices of place, community, and commitment wash over you. The ushers will guide you row by row. Ushers guide from back row to front row, one row at a time. One section at a time. Have Attendees circle as if participating in Communion.
INTERLUDE: Music plays.
WORSHIP LEADER: Please rise in body or spirit for this Community Proclamation.
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Community Proclamation
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ONE: The cross was once an instrument of death and despair. Today, in Christ, it speaks of transformation and resurrection.
ALL: Because of Christ, wherever there is crucifixion, resurrection is near.
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ONE: We believe that, in Christ,
ALL: The insidious cross of trauma, oppression, and abuse will be transformed.
ONE: We believe that, in Christ,
ALL: The enduring cross of generational poverty will be transformed.
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ONE: We believe that, in Christ,
ALL: The insidious cross of racism dividing our church and country is and will be transformed. <
ONE: We believe that, in Christ,
ALL: The insidious cross of environmental degradation is and will be transformed. We persevere in the struggle because we know that wherever there is crucifixion, resurrection is near. Alleluia!
SONG: “Alleluia (Sinclair),” (The United Methodist Hymnal, #186) (All sing several times; at end may sing acapella)
(Immediately, eight volunteers go to the center of the cross and slowly and symbolically remove the tape. .Remove slowly and in unison so that all volunteers end up in the center of the cross at the same time. Have them all give their wads of tape to ONE person. That person places the tape on the Altar and then they all leave to their seats at one time, filing out. Leave the card tents still in the shape of the cross, but without a border. While this ritual action is being performed, the worship leader repeats these words as many times as necessary:)
WORSHIP LEADER: In Christ all of the walls that divide us have been dismantled and are being dismantled.
(When the tape is gone, the song and the words of the worship leader end. After a brief pause, the worship leader speaks again.) During the singing, repeat the above sentence as many times as it takes for the tape removal to be complete.
WORSHIP LEADER: Christ has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility. In Christ, all of these walls have been dismantled and are being dismantled. All that is left is for all of us to join God in this holy work. May it be so, Amen.
(Song Leader starts, “Love before us.”) SONG LEADER: Let us go in peace.
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Christ Has Broken Every Wall
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(Song Leader leads a couple more familiar songs before announcing a time of optional “Singing to Exhale.”)
DAY THREE MORNING
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Purpose: This plenary on climate justice will focus on stories of the church in solidarity with communities most impacted by climate action. The plenary will draw on the experiences of participants to name how they and their communities have been positively impacted as a result of the climate justice study. It invites participants to continue in covenant community with United Methodist Women to further our work of mission education, justice and advocacy—all signs that God’s kin-dom is at hand.
The following participants and equipment should be arranged ahead of time: • Song Leader. • Worship Leader. • United Methodist Women Staff, Director/PAG, or Conference Officer. For UMW Climate Justice portion. • Video capability. • Microphones for sharing time. 2 or 3 Mic Runners as Volunteers. • Offering baskets. • Ushers. For Offering and for helping participants to their seat.
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Gathering Songs and Announcements (20 minutes)
Worship songs (including Opening Hymn) and Thin Places Litany (10 minutes)
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OPENING HYMN: “To You, O God, All Creatures Sing” (The New Century Hymnal, #17)
Thin Places Litany
INSTRUMENTAL: “How Great Thou Art” (The United Methodist Hymnal, #77) LEADER: We praise you O God for the ways we experience your transcendent love, joy, and artistry in creation. For the thin, holy places. (Choose 8-10 from the basket collected on Day One. Read 2–3 at a time.) Say below after 2 or 3 are read; multiple times. <
LEADER: And God saw all that God had made, and said,
ALL: “Wow! It is very good.”
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SONG: “How Great Thou Art” (refrain)
Introduction (5 Minutes)
LEADER: Last night, we met at the cross to bear witness to broken covenant, practice confession in community, and renew our commitment to right relationships. We offered ourselves and the communities we represent to be a part of dismantling the walls that divide us. And we embodied that hope when we symbolically removed the red tape.
Today, we will hear stories of people who are engaged in addressing the issues of climate and environmental justice. They testify to our journey to right relationships with the Earth and with vulnerable communities.
These stories are signs of hope that God is doing a new thing in our midst. God is making a way in the wilderness and causing rivers to flow in the desert.
These stories show us that in spite of outward appearances and the latest focus of the news cycle, something powerful and good is happening among us. Sometimes unseen and often unheralded, God is redeeming, transforming, and recreating the world through ordinary people.
This plenary reminds us to not be discouraged, gives us reason for hope, and entices us to join in the mighty work God is doing all over this earth.
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Who is the source of life and goodness? It is God! Who makes the deserts into rivers? It is God! Who shines a light into the future? It is God! We join with God in this great work! We join with God in this great work!
Movement #1: VIDEO/PPT STORIES (20 minutes)
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STORY 1: Bearing Witness to the Work of Justice Louise Niemann, United Methodist Women, Standing Rock
SONG VERSE: (It is God)
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STORY 2: Taking Initiative to Plant a Vision Ko Dzamangwana Dziripi, Where is tomorrow’s supply? Shamiso Mupara, Environmental Scholar, Zimbabwe SONG VERSE (It is God)
Who turns the desert into forests? It is God! Who’s bringing people close together? It is God! Who is inspiring youth and children? It is God! We join with God with heart and hand! We join with God with heart and hand!
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STORY 3: Collaborating Toward a Solution Pastor Dottie Yunger and East Capitol Urban Farm, Washington, D.C.
SONG VERSE (It is God)
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Movement #2: The Work of United Methodist Women in Climate Justice (10 min)
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UNITED METHODIST WOMEN STAFF, DIRECTOR/PAG, OR CONFERENCE OFFICER: As we have studied and explored, Climate Justice is about loving all God’s creation, especially the most vulnerable. Today, the earth, as well as marginalized communities in the U.S. and around the world, are at greatest risk. We celebrate United Methodist Women’s approach to engaging in climate justice—in solidarity with those most impacted by the results of extraction, production, and waste upon their air, water, and land. Here are a few ways United Methodist Women has been living out the work of Climate Justice.
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As you already know, in 2016 United Methodist Women began the Climate Justice issue study at Mission u. Hundreds of study leaders were trained to equip members of the Church around climate justice. In addition to thousands of adults trained, over 800 youth and children were trained. We are offering this study again this year.
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At General Conference 2016, United Methodist Women hosted a public witness for climate justice focusing on clean water for all. We challenged lead in the public water system in Flint, MI, as well as naming domestic and global realities of the human right to clean water as an economic, racial and environmental justice issue.
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As part of United Methodist Women's work to live out our Church’s Acts of Repentance and justice towards Native American communities, United Methodist Women stood in solidarity with Standing Rock Sioux Tribe who protested the Dakota Access Pipeline. We also pressed for banks to divest from investing in the pipeline.
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The 13 Steps to Sustainability are the agreed upon principles of United Methodist Women that promote true sustainability through very concrete mechanisms of how United Methodist Women works – monitoring all of our meetings and events. We have applied these principles on this facility we are meeting in. We celebrate that we are taking our “faith, hope and love into action.”
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There are 10 Be Just. Be Green Jurisdiction Guides – two in each jurisdiction, who serve as coaches for those in the jurisdictions to advance the application of the 13 steps to sustainability.
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We Revised & Readopted resolution 1025 – Environmental Racism in the United States. We Revised & Readopted resolution 1032 – Principles for Just and Sustainable Extraction and Production. We Revised & Readopted resolution 1033 w/ Global Ministries and Church & Society – Caring for Creation: A Call to Stewardship and Justice We Revised & Readopted resolution 1035 – w/ Global Ministries and church & Society - Climate Change and the Church's Response
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And finally, in our work on Climate Justice this quadrennium, we are launching a campaign to Support the reduction of Green House Gas emissions using shareholder campaigns targeting top emitting corporations.
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SONG VERSE (It is God)
Movement #3: Community Sharing (10 minutes)
LEADER: Last year, our Mission u community began the study on Climate Justice to understand how quickly our climate is changing and how this impacts all of us, especially the poor and the most vulnerable here at home and abroad. Climate justice is a call to action. In the next 7–10 minutes, I invite you to share brief testimonies to the work God is already doing in your community.
As a result of our Climate Justice study, can you name a powerful connection, insight, or action that has impacted your life or your community? What has happened as a result of this study in this past year? If you raise your hand, someone with a microphone will come to you.
(We may need to pre-identify 2–3 people who will be willing to start the sharing.)
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Community Sharing with Mic Runners
(Questions are on-screen.) (After about 7–10 minutes, longer if there is time and if more people still wish to share:)
LEADER: Thank you. So much has happened in just one year! (Continue with other appropriate phrases to close the time.)
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Movement #4: Offering and Closing
Offering (8 minutes)
(Solo or peppy congregational song; i.e., “Sister Take My Hand…”.)
OFFERTORY SOLO: “Creation of Peace,” by Mark Miller
LEADER: Let us now continue planting seeds of hope and change through our action of Offering, the offering of our self and financial resources.
Ushers come at this time, as Offertory Solo is sung by Song Leader. Identify one main Usher to combine all baskets and who will raise the baskets during the Doxology and place on altar after the Doxology
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Closing Litany (7 minutes) <
LEADER: Hear again the Word of God: I am about to do a new thing, now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19, NRSV.)
LEADER: God is doing a new thing. Can you see it?
ALL: We can see it, we can hear it; we can even taste it.
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LEADER: God is doing a new thing through women in Zimbabwe, who are raising the next generation to resist deforestation. Can you see it?
ALL: We can see it, we can hear it; we can even taste it. The Kin-dom of God is at hand.
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LEADER: God is doing a new thing as the Church joins in worldwide solidarity and rises to defend the rights of First Nations in Standing Rock and in other areas of the world. Can you see it?
ALL: We can see it, we can hear it; we can even taste it. The Kin-dom of God is at hand.
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LEADER: God is doing a new thing, bringing people together from inside and outside the church planting Collaborative Gardens, creating new solutions in deserts of our cities, helping people to reclaim the power to thrive and provide for their families. Can you see it?
ALL: We can see it, we can hear it; we can even taste it. The Kin-dom of God is at hand.
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LEADER: God is doing a new thing through United Methodist Women. God’s beautiful vision of Creation is being proclaimed and activated across the country through this study. Mission efforts to adapt and curb climate change are being supported across the globe. The 13 Steps of Sustainability are empowering us towards a more sustainable future. Can you see it? Can you hear it? Will you join?
ALL: We can see it, we can hear it; we can even taste it. We will turn faith, hope and love into action! The Kin-dom of God is at hand.
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CLOSING SONG: “Bambelela (Never Give Up)” (Singing Our Prayer, #1)
(Taught at gathering time. Segue into “Hamba Nathi.” End of Climate Justice plenary.)
Break
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Closing Remarks and Acknowledgements
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Communion Service
The following participants and equipment should be arranged ahead of time: • Celebrant. • Servers. 8 to 10 depending on group size. • Communion table with Items for Communion. Use gluten free bread or Corn Tortillas and announce and put on screen that bread is gluten free. All grape juice and bread are on the stage (both for congregation and celebrant) prior to beginning of service. • Song Leader.
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COMMUNION SERVICE
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INVITATION
CELEBRANT: We share in Communion as a sign of divine covenant. This broken body, this poured out blood;
ALL: Are signs that God refuses to give up on us.
CELEBRANT: We share in Communion, because we are a covenant community who struggles together. This broken body, this poured out blood;
ALL: Are signs that we refuse to give up on each other.
CELEBRANT: We share in Communion, because we are in covenant with Creation. This broken body, this poured out blood;
ALL: Are signs that we refuse to give up on the world.
CELEBRANT: We share in Communion as a practice of deep gratitude. For it is only by the lavish grace of God that we are transformed again and again into a new creation and new humanity. All are invited to partake of this feast of love and reconciliation.
ALL: Thanks be to God!
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CONFESSION AND ASSURANCE
CELEBRANT: Let us pray. God of everlasting love and faithfulness, we confess that we have often failed to live up to our side of the covenant. We have ignored the clear signs of your presence. We have turned a blind eye to the mistreatment of our sisters and brothers. We have willfully disobeyed your call to do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly.
Forgive us, we pray. Free us from the bonds and shackles our own attitudes and actions have created. Help us break down the walls that separate us from you and from each other. Restore us into right relationship with you, all of creation and one another. In the name of the One whose example we dare to follow, Jesus the Christ, Amen.
(Silence.)
Friends, listen to these good news. If anyone is in Christ, that person is part of the new creation. The old things have gone away, new things have arrived! And there is even more! Having reconciled us, God has now trusted us as ambassadors to the whole world with this message of reconciliation.
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CELEBRANT: Thanks be to God!
ALL: Thanks be to God!
CELEBRANT: Thanks be to God!
ALL: Thanks be to God!
CELEBRANT: Thanks be to God!
ALL: Thanks be to God! Amen.
CELEBRANT: As reconciled people and ambassadors of Christ, I invite you to turn to those around you and share God’s gift of wholeness and peace with these words: “Peace be with you, ambassador of peace.”
(After all share the peace for about half a minute, Song Leader starts song to signal everyone to close this time of sharing. Perhaps hand actions accompany the song.)
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SONG: “Prayer of Peace” (Gather Comprehensive, #720)
(Song Leader leads singing.)
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(At this time, the communion elements are brought forth to the table or, if already there, they are uncovered and celebrant(s) and servers* get in place. The recommendation is for servers to be at the table with the celebrant from the start of the Great Thanksgiving; this is both to signal a wider participation at the table and also to facilitate logistics. It is perfectly okay and a good example if any of the servers need to share.) Servers join the Celebrant on stage, flanking either side.
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THE GREAT THANKSGIVING CELEBRANT: The God of love be with you
ALL: And also with you
CELEBRANT: The God of justice be with you
ALL: And also with you
CELEBRANT: The God of peace be with you
ALL: And also with you
CELEBRANT: Lift up your hearts to God
ALL: They are lifted and ready
CELEBRANT: Let us give thanks for all God has done, is doing and will do
ALL: It is right to give our thanks and praise
CELEBRANT: It is right and a good and joyful thing always and everywhere to give thanks to you, gracious God, covenant keeper and unswerving Lover. You formed us in your image and breathed into us the breath of life. When we turned away, and our love failed, you never gave up on us and your love remained steadfast. This is why with your people on earth and all the company of heaven we praise your name and join the unending hymn:
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ALL SING: Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might Heaven and earth are full of your glory Hosanna in the highest Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
CELEBRANT: You are Holy and blessed is your child, Jesus the Christ who came to call us to abundant life, showing us your way of living in right relationship with you, with creation and each other. By his example he taught us to value all creatures, be faithful stewards of your creation and live in mutuality, forgiveness and grace.
He made it a point to share time and develop friendships with those abused and marginalized by society, and in the midst of doing this brought healing and salvation to everyone he met.
The powers of this world resisted his message and eventually conspired to put him to death. At that moment of great risk and peril, Jesus continued building community and gathered his friends, his family of choice, for a meal.
During the meal, Jesus took the bread from the table, broke it, blessed it, and gave it to all who were gathered with him saying:
Take and eat, this is my body, broken and given for you, do this whenever you gather so that I may be present among you.
A bit later he took a cup from the table, blessed it and passed it to all who were gathered with him saying:
Drink from this common cup for this is my blood, the essence of my life, poured out and given for you, do this whenever you gather so that I may be present among you.
Jesus was put to death by the religious and civil authorities but this was not the end of the story; after three days, he rose from the dead and his covenant of grace and love continues to this day proving that nothing, absolutely nothing can destroy it. This is why we sing together:
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ALL SING: Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again Christ has died, Christ is risen, Christ will come again
CELEBRANT: Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here,
(Celebrant extends both arms in a gesture that covers all who are gathered, and then does the same with the personal artifacts—if the artifacts are placed at the altar from the Artifact Icebreaker exercise—and the bread and cup at the table.) and on these gifts of broken bread and poured out cup. Make them be for us the body and blood of Christ, that they may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood. By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to all the world, until Christ comes in final victory and all are able to feast at your heavenly banquet. Through your Child Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy church, all honor and glory is yours, God of faithful covenants, now and forever.
ALL: Amen, Amen, Amen, Amen.
(The recommendation is that at this point, without words, the Celebrant(s) slowly and deliberately lift the bread, break it into two pieces, and hold the pieces with fully stretched arms while connecting visually with all who are assembled. After placing the two pieces of bread on the table, the Celebrant(s) raise the cup using both hands, extending it and moving it towards the people in a gesture of sharing and invitation. After placing the cup back on the table, the Celebrant(s) or an assisting deacon speaks:)Celebrant gives communion to all servers first.
CELEBRANT: Come to this table of grace and reconciliation for all things are ready.
(Provide precise instructions as to how people are to move, including the placement of a gluten free station and how communion will be shared.)
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(Suggested song for sharing communion: “Come to the table of Grace.” Words and music by Barbara Hamm. Copyright © 2008 Barbara Hamm. http://www.hymnary.org/text/come_to_the_table_of_grace)
(Extra communion song, if needed: “The Bread and the Wine Are Here.” Words and music by Dan Damon.)
CELEBRANT: Let us pray, God of everlasting covenants, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer of all that is, Defender of orphans and widows, Hope of the poor, Confounder of the proud, Disruptor of the mighty. We… give… you… thanks…
We give thanks for the journey of the last three days For the sharing, for the learnings, for the challenges, for the blessings We give thanks for this meal, this meal that strengthened our bonds with you and each other.
We give thanks for the communities represented in each artifact found on this table, communities to which we now return, filled with hope. For, like your Prophet John, we have seen in this place the new heaven and new earth you are creating,
A place where justice, love and peace will be at home. A place where God shall wipe away all tears from every longing eye; A place with no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, nor any more pain: for the former things are passed away. God is making all things new!
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Ending Litany
CELEBRANT: As we go from this place, keep us in the fellowship of grace the remembrance of kindness the doing of justice;
ALL: And embolden us to live as a covenant community to proclaim the kin-dom of God is at hand as we turn faith, hope and love into action.
(Upbeat, lively music to end.) <
REPRISE: “You Are Good”/“Hamba Nathi”/“I’ll Fly Away” ©(Worship and Song, #3014) /“Hamba Nathi” (Lead Me, Guide Me, #542)/ “I’ll Fly Away” (The Faith We Sing, #2282)